(MILWAUKEE) Two Milwaukee police officers were shot after responding to a call for a person with a weapon late Thursday, police said.
A suspect has been arrested in connection with the shooting on Friday morning, police said.
In what is being described as an “ambush,” officers were fired upon as they approached an alley, according to police.
A 32-year-old officer has been hospitalized in critical condition while a 29 year-old officer hospitalized with a non-life-threatening injury, police said.
The identity of the suspect has not been revealed by police, but officials said criminal charges will be presented to the Milwaukee district attorney’s office “in the upcoming days.”
“Thank you to our law enforcement partners who assisted us in taking the suspect into custody. As a start reminder, the Milwaukee Police Department will not tolerate harm to our community or our officers. Individuals inflicting harm against the public and our officers will be held accountable,” police said in a statement.
“It is with profound sorrow and outrage that we confirm that two Milwaukee police officers were tragically shot and critically injured in the line of duty tonight. Our thoughts are with these officers, their families, friends, and colleagues. These officers face unimaginable suffering and they have long roads ahead of them,” a statement from the Milwaukee Police Association said.
“This senseless act of violence has struck the very heart of our department and our community. We have reached a breaking point. Violence in our city is out of control, and those who protect our neighborhoods are increasingly in the crosshairs,” the statement continued. “We have had five officers killed in the line of duty over the past seven years and dozens of our officers have been shot and shot at while trying to serve our neighborhoods. Our officers wear the badge with pride and honor, but our officers need more leadership from the city to bring an end to this violence.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said in response to the shooting: “It’s a sad day. It’s a very sad day. Because no officer, no person in law enforcement should ever, ever be fired upon. For the person that shot at our police officer, I want you to know, you should turn yourself in. Know that the men and women on this police force, they are going to find you, they’re going to arrest you, and you’re going to be brought to justice anyway.”
ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.
(MOSCOW, Idaho) — In a series of final rulings ahead of Bryan Kohberger’s capital murder trial, Judge Steven Hippler said lawyers for the man who could be executed, if convicted, won’t be permitted to present to the jury the theory that some unknown person is the real killer.
The trial in the Idaho college killings case will begin Aug. 18, a week later than originally planned, a judge ruled Thursday.
With jury selection starting on Aug. 4, a series of final rulings has cleared the path for the trial of Bryan Kohberger as Judge Steven Hippler said lawyers for the man who could be executed, if convicted, won’t be permitted to present to the jury the theory that some unknown person is the real killer.
However, Kohberger’s defense will be allowed to press investigators on whether they followed up on all plausible leads enough, beyond simply pursuing Kohberger, the judge said.
“Nothing links these individuals to the homicides or otherwise gives rise to a reasonable inference that they committed the crime; indeed, it would take nothing short of rank speculation by the jury to make such a finding,” the judge said.
Kohberger’s lawyers had offered the judge, under seal, what they said were four other people who might have killed Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in an off-campus house on Nov. 13, 2022.
Kohberger’s attorneys — who insist he is innocent — did acknowledge that they didn’t have enough to pursue that strategy at the trial’s outset and wanted the judge to give them “latitude” in building that theory when they cross-examine the prosecution’s witnesses.
The judge rejected the proof they offered as paper-thin at best, and “entirely irrelevant.”
“At best, [Kohberger’s] offer of proof can give rise to only wild speculation that it is possible any one of these four individuals could have committed the crimes,” Judge Steven Hippler said, adding the defense can’t “merely offer up unsupported speculation that another person may have committed the crime, which is all [Kohberger] has done here.”
In his ruling, Hippler said allowing the defense to indulge that theory would risk leading the jury “astray” and waste their “precious time,” the judge said.
Kohberger’s defense previously suggested there could be someone else behind the killings, pointing to the other unidentified male DNA samples found in the crime scene area. But, the judge noted, each of the four people proffered as alternates had cooperated with authorities, provided their DNA and fingerprints and that forensics had already excluded their DNA from the samples taken from the crime scene and victims.
The fourth individual offered as an alternate had a “passing connection” to one of the victims, the judge said: he “noticed her shopping at a store approximately five weeks prior to the homicides.”
“He followed her briefly out the exit of the store while considering approaching her to talk. He turned away before ever speaking to her,” the judge said.
Hippler added that the event was “captured on a surveillance camera,” and that this man had cooperated with authorities. His DNA had already been excluded from those taken from the crime scene.
In another new filing just posted to the docket, Judge Hippler also denied the defense’s attempt to further delay the trial.
Kohberger “has not made a showing that there is good cause to continue the trial,” Hippler said.
Kohberger’s lawyers had pushed for another delay, citing a massive trove of records turned over by the prosecution in such a high-stakes case, the “inflammatory” media coverage potentially biasing the jury, and because they needed more time to prepare their case for sentencing, should he be convicted.
The judge itemized the extensive investigation that Kohberger’s lawyers had already done to prepare for a possible sentencing phase that show an “expansive understanding” of who the man is and the world he’s been living in.
The list includes his educational, medical and mental health records; his father’s military records; “multiple” interviews with Kohberger himself as well as family members, two of his fourth-grade teachers, his former boxing coach, and a psychologist who evaluated Kohberger in 2005; interviews with his former Masters’ degree professor/advisor; and letters and jail calls between Kohberger and his family.
There is also a lengthy redacted section discussing “speculation” Kohberger’s lawyers want to “chase down,” which the judge calls “unsupported suspicions” that “smacks of tactical gamesmanship and delay.”
If they were “truly struggling” to be ready for an August trial, they should have said so sooner, before all the deadlines had passed, the judge said. Kohberger’s lawyers have “robustly litigated” this case so far, amassed dozens of experts and other team members and filed numerous briefs.
The judge also said he doubted the national media attention on the case would decrease with a delay.
“Four college students in a small Idaho college town were brutally stabbed to death by an unknown perpetrator,” the judge said. “It was an immediate media sensation and garnered widespread attention that not only continues to persist, but continues to grow.”
(CHELAN COUNTY, Wash.) — It’s been nearly a month since Travis Decker went on the run after allegedly killing his three young daughters near a Washington state campground, and at least one expert told ABC News he believes the fugitive father is likely still alive and will “eventually surface.”
Paityn Decker, 9; Evenlyn Decker, 8; and Olivia Decker, 5, were killed after they left home for a “planned visitation” with Decker at approximately 5 p.m. on May 30, officials said. At approximately 3 p.m. on June 2, officials located the bodies of the three girls, and Decker’s vehicle, near the Rock Island Campground in Chelan County, Washington.
Nearly one month later, the manhunt for Decker, an Army veteran, continues.
On Monday, officials said that “there is no certain evidence that Decker remains alive” or in the surrounding area after “seemingly strong early leads gave way to less convincing proofs over the last two weeks of searching.”
“We can’t and won’t quit this search,” Kittitas County Sheriff Clay Myers said in a statement. “Paityn, Evelyn and Olivia Decker deserve justice. Decker remains a danger to the public as long as he’s at large.”
But Todd McGhee, a law enforcement and security analyst and former Massachusetts state trooper, told ABC News he believes Decker is alive, especially since canines have “not picked up on any type of cadaver or any type of presence of a deceased body.”
“Canines are trained to look for cadavers and sniff for those types of odors, so he’s still maybe on the move,” McGhee told ABC News.
McGhee said he believes Decker may have “slipped out of the U.S.,” escalating the search into an “international manhunt.” An affidavit previously revealed that Decker’s Google searches leading up to the murders included “how does a person move to Canada” and “how to relocate to Canada.”
Decker has likely been able to evade from law enforcement for so long due to his military training, which allows him to “navigate with limited resources in the wilderness,” McGhee said. Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison previously said Decker’s father revealed that his son had been known to go out and live “off the grid” for up to 2 and a 1/2 months.
Since he has managed to hide from officials for an extensive period of time, McGhee said Decker could have developed an escape plan, allowing him at least time to “process everything as far as turning himself in [and] standing trial.”
McGhee said Decker will likely “leverage every bit” of his military experience but said he believes he will “eventually surface.”
“He’ll eventually have to surface through seeking shelter, seeking food, nutrition — those types of things will require him to come out of hiding and, to some degree, expose himself to the general public,” McGhee said.
Regardless of where Decker may be, McGhee said he is “confident” the search efforts will lead to some form of closure.
“I’m confident that something should reveal itself as far as a resolution as to where his existence is and hopefully a capture and an arrest,” McGhee told ABC News.
What we know about the deaths of Paityn, Evelyn and Olivia Decker
On May 30, Decker picked up the girls, talked to his ex-wife, Whitney Decker, for about 15-20 minutes and then left, according to Arianna Cozart, Whitney Decker’s attorney. While Whitney Decker had full custody of the children, Travis Decker was granted visitations to see the children for three hours on Fridays and eight hours every other weekend, so long as he remained in Wenatchee Valley with the girls, Cozart told ABC News.
“He said, ‘Hey, I will see you at 8 [p.m.]’ and he left, and he never came back,” Cozart said.
Whitney Decker contacted police that evening with a civil complaint, saying she had not heard from Travis Decker and he had failed to bring the girls home at their scheduled time, officials said.
Detectives later learned Travis Decker and his daughters did not arrive at a “planned 5K running event” on Saturday. Officials believe that Decker traveled to the campground where the girls’ bodies were found on May 29 and returned the next day with his three children, according to court documents.
When the girls were reported missing, the investigation had not met Amber Alert criteria, officials said, but an Endangered Missing Persons Alert had been issued through the Washington State Patrol.
When the bodies of the girls were discovered, there were plastic bags over the heads of each one and their wrists were zip-tied, according to court documents obtained by ABC News.
Around Decker’s vehicle, deputies located zip ties and plastic bags “strewn throughout the area.” The tailgate of the truck had what appeared to be “two hand prints of blood,” according to court documents.
An autopsy determined the girls were suffocated, the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office said on June 9.
Decker’s mental health struggles, PTSD
Travis Decker had struggled with mental health issues, including PTSD, and was unable to access help through veterans’ resources, Cozart said.
“The courts didn’t fail these girls. It wasn’t the judge and it wasn’t Whitney; it was our system,” Cozart said. “[Whitney] feels like the system really let Travis down. If somebody would have provided Travis with the help that he needed, those girls would be alive.”
During a memorial service for the girls last weekend, Whitney Decker briefly spoke for the first time since her daughters’ deaths. She said the girls had “warm and open hearts.”
“I’m so thankful for the time that I had with the girls. I truly hope that the legacy of the girls’ lives lives in everyone’s hearts forever. They were incredible,” Whitney Decker said at the memorial on June 20.
Decker, who is described as 5 feet, 8 inches tall with black hair and brown eyes, was last seen wearing a light shirt and dark shorts, police said, and a new suspect flyer was released by authorities on June 16. He is currently wanted for three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of kidnapping, police said.
Officials said anyone who has any information on Decker or knows of his whereabouts should call 911 immediately.
(FORT WORTH, Texas) — A man was sentenced to 60 years in prison on Thursday for murdering a Texas college student in a random shooting in 2023.
Wes Smith, a 21-year-old junior at Texas Christian University, was shot multiple times outside a Fort Worth bar in September 2023, prosecutors said.
Matthew Purdy, 23, pleaded guilty to his murder during a hearing in Tarrant County on Thursday. A judge then sentenced him to 60 years, under the terms of a plea agreement.
Smith’s parents addressed the court during Thursday’s hearing.
“Your actions caused catastrophic, monumental mourning by thousands of people,” his father, Philip Smith, said while addressing the defendant, saying he believed Purdy has a “dark and ugly soul, if you have any soul at all.”
He remembered his son as a “beautiful human being” who had a great laugh and quick wit.
“He was a true leader of people,” Philip Smith said. “He was a gifted athlete. He was an honor student. He was a loved son. He was a cherished brother.”
His mother, Dorree Smith, remembered him as a “competitor to the core in a way that encouraged and brought out the best in everyone.”
“He thought being a mentor was so important, along with putting others before yourself and serving others however needed,” she said. “He wasn’t perfect, but he was striving for growth, building a foundation and leaving warmth and laughter in his wake.”
She said her son’s last evening was spent doing the two things he loved most — football and mentoring young athletes, while helping coach middle school students — before heading to a bar to meet up with friends.
He was helping women find safe rides home when he was shot, she said.
Addressing Purdy directly, she said, “You didn’t know Wes. You never met him. But in that moment, you made a devastating, evil choice. You decided you mattered more than he did. And you took Wes’ earthly life. And now Wes’ loss is not just a personal loss but a communal wound.”
The shooting occurred in Fort Worth’s West 7th entertainment district shortly after 1 a.m. local time on Sept. 1, 2023.
An officer patrolling the district heard gunshots and found Smith suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, according to the affidavit. Smith was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
The gunman hit another TCU student who was fleeing the scene in the back of the head with the gun, causing a laceration, according to the affidavit.
Purdy was arrested two blocks from the bar and admitted to shooting Smith three times for no discernible reason, according to the affidavit. He told police he didn’t shoot the other TCU student “because he ran out of bullets,” prosecutors said.
After being read his rights, Purdy agreed to provide a statement, in which he “admitted to approaching Wes, who he didn’t know and shooting him three times” in the stomach, shoulder and back of the head after he fell, the affidavit stated.
“Matthew could not provide a clear reason as to why he shot Wes,” the affidavit stated, noting that Purdy asked the victim if he knew his father, who was assaulted in the past in the area, before shooting him.
Purdy also pleaded guilty Thursday to aggravated assault for pistol-whipping the other TCU student and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In a police interview, he said he didn’t shoot her because he ran out of bullets.
He was additionally sentenced on eight other felony charges, for a total of 206 years in prison. The sentences will run concurrently, the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office said.
His trial had been scheduled to start in July. ABC News has reached out to his attorney for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
“On behalf of my children and myself, I want to express our deepest sympathies to the Hortman and Hoffman families,” Jenny Boelter said in a statement released by her attorneys on Thursday. “We are absolutely shocked, heartbroken and completely blindsided.”
“It is a betrayal of everything we hold true as tenets of our Christian faith,” she continued. “We are appalled and horrified by what occurred and our hearts are incredibly heavy for the victims of this unfathomable tragedy.”
When Vance Boelter allegedly fled the Hortmans’ home, sparking a massive manhunt, investigators recovered a list of about 45 elected officials in notebooks in his car, according to prosecutors. Two other lawmakers were spared the night of the shootings, officials said.
Jenny Boelter stressed in her statement that her family has cooperated with law enforcement from the start. She said when the authorities called her on the morning of June 14, she immediately drove to meet them.
“We voluntarily agreed to meet with them, answer their questions, provide all items they requested, and cooperate with all searches,” she said.
Hours after the shootings, Vance Boelter allegedly texted his family, “Dad went to war last night … I don’t wanna say more because I don’t want to implicate anybody,” according to an affidavit. He also allegedly texted his wife, “Words are not gonna explain how sorry I am for this situation … there’s gonna be some people coming to the house armed and trigger-happy and I don’t want you guys around.”
In a search of Jenny Boelter’s car, law enforcement recovered at least one gun, about $10,000 in cash and family passports, the affidavit said.
After a nearly 48 hour manhunt, Vance Boelter was apprehended without incident.
“We thank law enforcement for apprehending Vance and protecting others from further harm,” Jenny Boelter said at the conclusion of her statement.
Vance Boelter faces federal charges including stalking and state charges including first-degree murder. He has not entered a plea and is due in court on Friday for a preliminary hearing.
ABC News’ Christiane Cordero contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Relief from the extreme heat is moving in for some cities on Thursday, but more than 60 million people in the East are still on alert for dangerously high temperatures.
Meanwhile, severe storms with reported tornadoes are targeting the Southeast and the Midwest.
Here’s the latest:
Severe storms
In the Midwest and the Southeast, tornadoes were reported as severe storms struck Wednesday evening — and more storms are on the way.
Ten tornadoes were reported in southern Minnesota and one was reported in Wisconsin on Wednesday.
In Ranchero Village on Florida’s west coast, video captured the moment the strong winds lifted up a 76-year-old woman’s house.
The woman was home at the time but is OK, her daughter, Stephanie Glenn, told ABC News.
“I don’t know how she survived,” Glenn said. “She got thrown around and beat up pretty bad, but is OK.”
On Thursday, severe storms with a few tornadoes will be possible again in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, though the storms are expected to be less widespread than Wednesday’s.
The expansive area of high-pressure and heat will also bring scattered showers and thunderstorms from the Heartland to the East Coast, with some of the storms possibly being strong enough to produce some isolated damaging winds. Lightning will also be a concern.
On Friday, a new severe weather threat emerges in the Upper Midwest, with the highest threat stretching from northern Nebraska to South Dakota to North Dakota to Minnesota. Very large hail, damaging wind gusts, spotty flash flooding and a few brief tornadoes are possible.
Heat
More heat records were broken across the East Coast from Connecticut to South Carolina as the dayslong heat wave continued on Wednesday. New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport registered at a scorching 102 degrees for the second day in a row.
The peak of this record-breaking heat wave has now passed, but high temperatures are ongoing on Thursday from Mississippi to Michigan and from North Carolina to Pennsylvania.
The heat index — what temperature it feels like with humidity — is forecast to climb to 90 degrees in Philadelphia, 105 degrees in Washington, D.C., 100 in Atlanta, and 106 in Charleston, West Virginia, and Charlotte, North Carolina.
The heat index is cooling to a balmy 77 degrees in New York City and 66 degrees in Boston.
A few showers and storms, combined with the responsible area of high pressure beginning to weaken, will all help weaken the heat across the East heading into the weekend.
The heat does return next week for the East, but not at the same intensity as this week’s heat wave.
ABC News’ Naomi Vanderlip contributed to this report.
(GARY, Ind.) — Five people have been killed after a train hit their vehicle when the driver allegedly went around the crossing gate, authorities said.
The incident occurred near Highway 20 and Utah Street in Gary, Indiana, when a witness told Gary Police that the crossing gate for the oncoming South Shore train was down when the driver of the vehicle went around it to beat the train, according to ABC News’ Chicago Station WLS.
It appears the train may have also been damaged in the crash, according to WLS. South Shore service was temporarily suspended but is now up and running again Thursday morning, WLS said.
Authorities have not yet released the names of those involved in the crash and the investigation into the incident is currently ongoing.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Matt Stone/Boston Herald via MediaNews Group via Getty Images, FILE
(LOS ANGELES) — When Los Angeles Police Department officers went racing toward a potential kidnapping call downtown this week, callers indicated a true kidnapping was underway, according to police.
Police say the caller stated that several individuals were involved, but did not identify themselves.
Officers and an LAPD supervisor say they arrived on scene to find an agitated crowd as federal agents were taking part in an immigration enforcement arrest, which have been increasingly common in Los Angeles as the Trump administration has surged resources to the city in recent weeks.
The arrests prompted days of protests earlier this month, which saw both peaceful marches and violent clashes with law enforcement.
The alleged kidnapping, which happened Tuesday morning, has similarities to an incident earlier in June when federal agents, driving cars that appeared to be civilian vehicles, crashed into a car while making an immigration arrest, prompting calls to the LAPD of a hit-and-run accident. The agents left, with their apparent target in handcuffs, after the encounter and before police arrived.
LAPD traffic officers responded and investigated the case as a hit and run, not initially knowing it had been a federal immigration arrest.
The LAPD says federal agents do not notify the police department of planned enforcement activity in advance. The department is in the dark on when or where operations will unfold or what methods federal agents will use.
They say this is partly because the department has been prohibited from immigration enforcement in a policy that goes back to 1979. And now, California law prohibits police agencies from working with federal immigration agents.
During recent federal immigration operations, agents involved almost completely cover their faces with masks or other coverings to protect their identities. They also typically wear street clothing and professional sports team hats along with tactical vests that often don’t clearly identify which agency they are with, besides the words “Police” or “Federal Agent.” They don’t display any serial number, badge number or name to identify themselves.
The lack of transparency by federal agents has California lawmakers proposing legislation that would require most federal, state and local law enforcement operating in the state to wear uniforms of some kind, clearly show a badge, identifiable information and their faces would have to be uncovered.
“Law enforcement officers are public servants, and people should be able to see their faces, see who they are, know who they are,” said state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-Calif., when introducing the bill. “Otherwise, there is no transparency and no accountability.”
Wiener and the co-authors of his legislation are calling it the “No Secret Police Act.”
Lawmakers say the masks intimidate and the lack of any police uniforms and gear can make it unclear if the federal agents are even real law enforcement or are imposters posing as police to commit crimes or take advantage of the situation.
“What we have been seeing in the last few weeks are law enforcement — some local, some federal — who are wearing masks to completely hide their faces while they are carrying out deportation and other enforcement activities,” said Assembly Public Safety Committee Chair Jesse Arreguin, D-Oakland.
The legislation would, however, allow SWAT team members to cover their faces along with law enforcement who need to cover uniforms for wildfire gear and medical-grade masks over their faces if there is an airborne threat like smoke, a chemical agent or a virus.
In Tuesday’s potential kidnapping call, the LAPD says they found a woman partially handcuffed who moved toward officers and stood next to an LAPD patrol SUV. Police say that is when a federal agent approached and apprehended her. The LAPD says it was not involved in her detention or arrest. But officers moved onlookers out of the roadway and, like this month’s protests, were tasked with clearing the street and maintaining order and public safety.
But community activists allege local police allowed the “kidnapping” to go forward. “Guess who were protecting the kidnappers who were kidnapping our people? LAPD officers. They completely protected the ICE operation that kidnapped our people,” Ron Gochez, founder of the Los Angeles chapter of Union del Barrio, which has been reporting ICE sightings in real time on social media, told ABC News’ Los Angeles station KABC.
But the LAPD said it did not take part in the federal operation and will “not participate in or assist with civil immigration enforcement,” according to a police statement. Rather, the LAPD said its officers remained on scene to “de-escalate tensions, move pedestrians out of the roadway, and allow emergency vehicles safe passage.”
(WASHINGTON) — With the Fourth of July just days away, law enforcement and federal officials are on guard about Iranian retaliation in the United States, despite officials saying there are no specific, credible threats at this time.
This comes after the U.S. military’s strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities by B-2 stealth bombers and Tomahawk cruise missiles.
“We would be foolish to assume that they’re not plotting revenge even if we can’t see it right now. It will come, and we need to maintain vigilance because if we don’t, they will use the element of surprise to their advantage and cause harm,” said Elizabeth Neumann, a former Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary for counterterrorism during the first Trump administration.
Even before Saturday’s bombing mission in Iran, the U.S. was at a heightened level of security after a string of high-profile terrorist attacks occurred across the country in the first six month of 2025 — including a deadly truck ramming rampage in New Orleans on New Year’s Day and a June 1 Molotov cocktail attack in Boulder, Colorado.
The wave of extremist violence has come against a backdrop of a rising number of assaults, vandalism and harassment nationwide linked to the Israel-Hamas war.
In the wake of the U.S. mission to cripple Iran’s ambitions to develop a nuclear weapon, Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, released a message on social media saying, “We will not surrender.” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi threatened in a speech that his country will seek revenge that will have “everlasting consequences” and accused the United States of committing “dangerous, lawless and criminal behavior.”
“In accordance with the U.N. Charter and its provisions allowing a legitimate response in self-defense, Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interests, and people,” Araghchi said.
On Monday, Iran carried out a missile attack on the United States’ Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. U.S. Central Command said both U.S. and Qatari forces “successfully defended” against the attack and that no casualties were reported.
Later in the day, President Donald Trump announced that a ceasefire had been agreed upon between Israel and Iran, but tensions remained high into Wednesday.
‘A long memory’
In reponse to the U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear apparatus, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a nationwide bulletin, saying the ongoing conflict is “causing a heightened threat environment in the United States” and warning that “low-level cyber-attacks against US networks by pro-Iranian hacktivists are likely, and cyber actors affiliated with the Iranian government may conduct against US networks.”
Neumann, an ABC News contributor, said Iran’s initial response to the U.S. bombing of three of its nuclear facilities is similar to what the country did following the Jan. 3, 2020, U.S. strike in Baghdad, Iraq, that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, leader of Iran’s elite Quds Forces.
Five days after Soleimani’s death, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard launched a ballistic missile attack on the U.S. Al Asad airbase in western Iraq. The attack left over 100 U.S. service members with traumatic brain injuries, according to the Pentagon.
“We were definitely very concerned about the potential for something to happen in the homeland,” said Neumann, who was working in the DHS under the first Trump administration when Soleimani was killed.
Neumann said the DHS’s Iran specialists assumed Iran would activate sleeper cells possibly in the United States and that Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shiite militia group, would launch terrorist attacks against U.S. interest.
But Neumann said Iran’s attack on the Al Asad airbase was used by Iran to appease its domestic audience by publicly displaying pictures of the attack to give the impression they were pushing back against the United States.
“Since they mostly control the airwaves in Iran, they can kind of get away with it. They don’t actually have to do a major military strike and hurt us the way that we’ve hurt them because they can just kind of manufacture the story that they want for their domestic audience,” Neumann said.
Neumann recalled that at the time, the DHS rapidly prepared an assessment of what Soleimani’s assassination could mean for the United States and released a bulletin similar to the one DHS put out this week. But after the attack on the Al Asad airbase, Iran’s response quieted down.
“The Iranian regime … has a long memory and they recognize that they do not have the strength right now to get back at us,” Neumann said. “But they will wait and they will look for opportunities to cause harm.”
She noted that in August 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard attempted to pay an individual $300,000 to kill John Bolton, the National Security Advisor during Trump’s first term, saying it was likely in retaliation for Soleimani’s death.
In November 2024, the Department of Justice announced that three people, including one described as an “asset” of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, were charged in Iran-linked murder plots, with one of them accused of trying to assassinate then-President-elect Trump to avenge the killing of Soleimani.
Iran could turn to ‘crude or escalatory tactics’ employing proxies
A threat assessment by the Center for Internet Security that was released after the U.S. bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities, said, “Tehran is likely to leverage a combination of direct, proxy, and irregular/inspired forces to conduct physical, cyber, or terrorist attacks against US interests both at home and aboard.”
“In light of Israeli strikes and the degradation of the Iranian proxy network in the Middle East, Iran will likely seek to re-establish deterrence against its adversaries, potentially relying on crude or escalatory tactics and informal networks,” according to the assessment. “US interests — particularly Embassies and military bases overseas — are likely to be targeted, and it is possible that Tehran will order or encourage attacks on the US government institutions, businesses, critical infrastructure, or civilians.”
Since the Oct. 7, 2023, widespread surprise attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists that ignited the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the DHS and FBI have repeatedly issued warnings that large-scale events are prime targets of violence.
“Violent extremist messaging continues to highlight major sporting and cultural events and venues as potential targets, and threat actors — including domestic violent extremists (DVEs), homegrown violent extremists (HVEs) inspired by Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), and other mass casualty attackers not motivated by an ideology — previously have targeted public events with little to no warning,” according to the joint bulletin put out in May by the DHS and FBI.
Given the nation’s alarming security threat, the FBI is planning to reallocate potentially thousands of FBI agents away from immigration enforcement work to focus on cyber threats and counterterrorism efforts, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News on Tuesday. Months ago, as ABC News has previously reported, the FBI directed agents from around the country, many of them working on counterterrorism and cyber issues, to focus instead on helping DHS conduct immigration enforcement operations.
‘Lone wolf’ and cyberattacks
Richard Frankel, a retired FBI agent, said that no credible threats against the U.S. homeland have been uncovered, “but there has been a lot of chatter.”
Frankel said in an ABC News Live interview on Monday that the FBI has been briefing the governors across the country about the heightened threat.
“They’re going to tell the governors that they need to maybe heighten their protection of special sights,” said Frankel, an ABC News contributor, adding that the New York Police Department has added extra security to landmarks such as the Empire State Building and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum as well as synagogues and other religious institutions.
Don Mihalek, a retired senior Secret Service agent and a national security and law enforcement consultant, said a major concern for law enforcement is that Iran or its proxies will try to elicit “lone wolf” attackers, who are radicalized online, to create mayhem on its behalf.
“I think that’s the bigger issue that everybody is worried about because I don’t think the Iranians are dumb enough to launch a state-sponsored, flag-waving attack against the continent of the United States,” Mihalek, an ABC News contributor, said. “But I think they definitely could get some guy in a basement who is antisemitic, who is anti-U.S., who just needed that little push to go to the local shopping center or a mall some place and conduct a low grade, low level attack that would disrupt that part of the United States and if it was coordinated it would have a significant impact on the U.S.”
Mihalek noted the possibility of Iranian sleeper cells being activated in the United States to organize and execute attacks.
During a House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science on Monday, Attorney General Pam Bondi was asked by Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, how many Iranian sleeper cells currently exist in the United States.
“Congressman, I can’t talk about that in this setting. But what I can tell you is I know Homeland Security, I know the FBI, and they are focusing on doing everything we can to keep our nation safe. And they will continue to do that,” Bondi said.
Asked by Gonzales how many active cases of threats to the homeland the DOJ currently has open, Bondi answered, “Countless” without elaborating.
And just flagging DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s comments on the threat from Monday:
Reporters asked DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on Monday about the possibility that people who have crossed the border illegally could be Iranian-affiliated, radicalized actors.
“We’re aware that some of these folks that may have come into our country could’ve been radicalized and so that is why we go out every day to identify individuals that could be a threat to our homeland,” Noem said. “We recognize that as tensions escalate, there could be more of a potential for threats here at home. That’s why we’re at an elevated threat right now and we will continue to stay diligent.”
Nome said that in the past, there have been people who have been radicalized both in the United States and abroad.
Asked about concerns over the upcoming Fourth of July holiday, Noem said, “There’s been concern since I took this job.”
“We have incredible threats to this country from many nations that are enemies to the United States of America,” Noem said. “It’s not just Iran. It’s North Korea, Russia, China — consistently every single day are trying to threaten our way of life.”
How can the average citizen help?
Mihalek said another worry for law enforcement is that Iran or its supporters will attempt to commit cyberattacks in the United States.
In 2023, then-White House deputy national security advisor Anne Neuberger told the Associated Press that an Iranian hacker group known as “Cyber Av3ngers” had conducted low-level cyberattacks on U.S. water authorities in multiple states and were responsible for a string of ransomeware attacks on the health care industry.
Mihalek said the average citizen could play a significant role in protecting themselves and helping law enforcement thwart attacks, particularly during large events scheduled around the Fourth of July.
“If you see something strange or have somebody in your orbit who is acting strange, you want to let somebody know so they can look at it and investigate it. Often when that happens, the threat is mitigated before it becomes a problem,” Mihalek said. “The other part is if you’re going out some place, you’re going to an event, take the time to look for the exits, how to get out of some place, pay attention to your surroundings and listen to your gut.”
An American Airlines plane. Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images
(LAS VEGAS) — An American Airlines flight returned safely to Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport shortly after takeoff due to a “mechanical issue” on Wednesday morning, the airline said.
The Federal Aviation Administration described it as an “engine issue.” While American Airlines said there was “no evidence of fire in the engine,” videos obtained by ABC News showed short bursts of flames shooting out of an engine.
Matthew Villasista was at the Las Vegas National Golf Club when he saw what appeared to be smoke coming from the plane.
“We could hear lots of booming noises, almost like a boombox. It sort of stopped us in our tracks to hear the noises,” he told ABC News.
Mark Jackson was in a parking lot when he said he heard what sounded like “large fireworks.”
“When we looked up and saw what was really happening, I was shocked and super sad thinking about how scared everyone on board must be,” Jackson told ABC News. “Those brave pilots working under some heavy pressure. It just looked like it was dropping rapidly.”
American Airlines Flight 1665 — an Airbus A321 — was heading to Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, the FAA said. Passengers deplaned normally in Las Vegas, American said.
The plane “is being taken out of service to be evaluated by our maintenance team,” American said.
“We appreciate the professionalism of our crew and thank our team who are working to get our customers to their destinations as quickly as possible,” the airline added.
